Budget Cuts Alter Lake Lanier Campground Operations

The parks and campgrounds at Georgia’s Lake Lanier and Lake Allatoona are popular getaway places for people in the metro Atlanta area, but a number of them are scheduled to close. The Army Corps of Engineers says it comes down to money, and a lack thereof, WAGA-TV, Atlanta, reported.

According to the Corps, budget cutbacks mean they have no choice but to close some of their recreation facilities and delay the opening of others.

They say their recreation budget has been squeezed over the years. To make do, they say they’ve relied on volunteers and even leased some of the facilities out to other counties and organizations. But now, there’s simply not enough money to keep the current footprint in place.

At Lake Lanier, the lower pool east will close. It was chosen because people can still access the river from lower pool west.

Also slated for closure is Upper Overlook Park, which has maintenance issues and doesn’t have a lot of visitors. The popular Sawnee Campground won’t reopen next summer either.

“It’s one of our older parks,” said Tim Rainey of the Army Corps of Engineers. “We’ve rehabbed half of it, but the other half is in dire need of maintenance.”

At Lake Allatoona, all day-use parks will close for the winter, and the seasonal ones will open one month late.

The Corps will continue to look for saving that could keep the parks and campgrounds open.

“We’re going to closely monitor our money, and hopeful we can mitigate some of the closures,” said Rainey.

The budget mandating the closures goes into effect on October 1, but the Corps hopes to delay some of the impact. It has put together a list detailing the parks and campgrounds that will be affected, and you can find that list by clicking here.